


I've Always Aimed To Protect You

by Mercy_Rhyne



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: I liked Protective!Virge, Logan is just mentioned, Need to write more of that, Some pain I guess, my boi, my poor boi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-16
Updated: 2018-07-16
Packaged: 2019-06-11 13:29:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,195
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15316512
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mercy_Rhyne/pseuds/Mercy_Rhyne
Summary: When the sides go on a trip into the dreamscape, things turned out worse than they had imaginedBased on a drawing by randomslasher on Tumblr





	I've Always Aimed To Protect You

**Author's Note:**

> Warnings: Major character death, swears, blood

It wasn’t unusual for the four light sides to go adventuring in the dreamscape together. Sometimes, Roman would prepare an adventure for them, made to fit their interests. Sometimes, he would allow the dream realm to go its own way, and face them with unexpected challenges. It was all in good fun, and no one ever got harmed – and if someone did get a few bruises after tripping, Roman made sure to heal their injuries at once. He would never willingly put his friends in harm’s way, of course.

However, this particular trip was different. He sensed it from the moment he led his fellow sides into the kingdom of dreams. Something was off. The atmosphere was wrong. Darker than before. Ominous. He immediately voiced his concern, but the other sides did not seem to worry as much – Logan and Patton didn’t, at least. They reassured him, told him that they trusted him. After all, if anything did happen, he would be there to protect them, right?

Virgil remained silent.

Roman nodded at the reassuring words of his friends, but something still felt wrong. Some voice in his head told him to turn back while they still could, but he was so afraid of letting the others down. They were counting on this trip; it was a tradition by now. And after they told him how much they trusted him? Telling them to turn back nearly felt like a betrayal to them.

So, he had no choice.

He led his friends further into the dreamscape.

 

As they walked, Roman’s concerns disappeared. Patton made puns like usual, Logan masked his amusement by frustration, and Roman mentioned his sexuality multiple times. Nothing unusual about that. The only thing that was off, was Virgil. The anxious side had been silent the entire journey. Roman noticed this, but brushed it off. Maybe he was just having a bad day, he reasoned. He wouldn’t want to push the younger trait too much, so he decided to leave it be. Maybe a little adventuring could lift his spirits. And if not, Roman could ask the other about it when they got back.

Roman had their journey all planned out. They would go to a castle he had found in the dreamscape not long ago. It seemed abandoned and the perfect place to go for an adventure. He had decided to let the dreamscape surprise them with the tests, so when he saw a few shadows in the woods they were about to enter, he brushed it off. It was probably their enemy, he reasoned. He didn’t pay any attention to it; they would stop them in their tracks when the timing was right, he thought. Nothing to worry about.

They entered the woods.

Mistake.

 _Big_ mistake.

 

“Guys,” Virgil spoke up after a while. It was the first thing he had said since they entered the dream realm and Roman noticed his voice was slightly distorted by anxiety. “I don’t trust this. We should go back.”

“What’s the matter, kiddo?” Patton asked kindly. “Surely, Roman wouldn’t let us ge-”

“ _Get down!”_ The anxious side jumped at the side closest to him – Logan – and pushed him to the floor, just as an arrow impaled the tree behind them.

“What the-” Roman unsheathed his sword as he looked around, trying to find their opponents. When he found nothing, he walked to the murdered tree and pulled out the arrow, hoping to find a hint as to _who_ he was looking for. But there was something unsettling about it. “I don’t recognize this one.”

“ _What?”_ Virgil’s voice had gotten deeper, more distorted than before, and it was clear that this whole situation wasn’t good on his nerves.

“I don’t recognize this arrow,” the prince admitted, staring at the projectile. “I don’t know who this came from. I… I don’t know what is going on.”

“Okay, that’s it,” the anxious side insisted, getting up in a hurry. “We are leaving this place.”

“But, Vir-”

“ _Now_.” Virgil ran his hands through his hair, completely forgetting to help Logan up. This was bad news. This was _horrible_ news. He knew something was wrong when they set foot in this place. He just _knew_. He had to get the others out as quickly as possible. But first… they would have to get back to the door safely.

Roman nodded. He sensed the urgency in Virgil’s voice and didn’t try to reason. Of course, he wanted to know what was happening to his kingdom of dreams – and maybe he wanted to defeat their enemies just to prove to the others that he wasn’t a _total_ failure – but something told him that they were in trouble. They had to get out as soon as possible.

The prince led them to the edge of the forest, followed by Logan, Patton and lastly Virgil, who made sure to keep an eye on every tree and every shadow. Nothing could hurt the other sides. _Nothing._

“Wait,” he called out when Roman reached the edge of the woods. The creative prince turned around in confusion, to see the other side jogging up to him. “I’m going first.”

Roman opened his mouth to protest, but Virgil glared at him with a look that would shut everyone up. Where the anxious side had been plagued with anxiety a while back, he now felt nothing but a determination to protect his friends, and save them from dying. This was a life-or-death situation and he had to make sure the others were safe. That was priority number one.

Carefully, Virgil stepped out of the woods. His heart was pounding and his hands twitching, but other than that, he was strangely confident. He looked around. Nothing.

“You can come out now,” he called to the others, his voice still distorted as all hell. The three other sides nodded and complied, each of them on guard. Roman clutched his sword so tightly that his knuckles turned white, and Virgil was sure he never saw the flamboyant side this nervous. For a good reason, of course. They could die at any moment. “Let’s go to the door. Lead the way, my prince.”

Roman nodded and silently made his way towards the door. Patton and Logan followed, and again, Virgil closed the ranks. He glanced over his shoulder every once in a while, and sometimes, he could have sworn that he saw a shadow rushing into hiding as he turned to look.

 

It was quiet. Way. Too. Quiet. Something was about to happen, and Virgil didn’t like it. Whoever was sneaking up on them, they had a plan. All this time, they had been walking. And nothing happened. Did they want to follow them into the mindscape, and corrupt Thomas? Was this a sick game to them? Or were they waiting for the perfect moment to attack? Virgil didn’t know. And he hated not knowing it.

When the door came into view, Virgil felt a wave of relief. Maybe they could make this. Maybe all of this had been part of Roman’s plan. If that were the case, Virgil would make sure to scream at the prince for putting him through all of this stress, but that was an issue for future-Virgil. Present-Virgil had to worry about keeping his friend safe.

They stopped in front of the door. Roman reached out for the doorknob, but before he could grab it, an arrow was shot in the dark wood, inches away from his hand. Virgil’s head snapped up, feeling the protective side of him re-emerging. He knew this was too good to be true.

“Stand back,” he ordered as Roman raised his sword. “I will handle this.”

Roman uttered a weak protest, but Virgil glared at him and turned around. Before him, he saw five people, dressed in black and blue, dark masks covering their faces. Each one of them carried a bow identical to their companions’. If Virgil wasn’t in Protective Mode, he would have cowered in fear. But now, he just let out a low, distorted growl.

“Give me that,” he muttered as he grabbed Roman’s sword. The prince barely even protested as the other side pulled the weapon out of his hands. He was speechless. All of them were; they’d never seen Virgil like that before. “And if I tell you to run, just fucking run, okay?”

He looked at the trio and all of them nodded, lost for words. Satisfied with this answer, the trait turned around again.

“Listen up, you fuckers,” Virgil spat as he walked towards the five opponents, handling the sword with surprising skill. “I’m going to give you three seconds to get your asses out of here, before I kick them halfway round the world, okay? One,” – they didn’t move – “two,” – all five of them grabbed an arrow from their quiver as Virgil stepped closer. “Fuck it.”

With those words, he raised the sword, rushing towards the group of five. The three remaining sides looked at the scene, holding back their surprised yelps as Virgil did so. He dodged four of the five arrows – one hit him in the arm, but he didn’t seem to care – and stabbed one of the five people in the chest. He headbutted one other guy who tried to ambush him from behind and kicked their legs, muttering about how much of a coward they were for attacking him from the back. Two others were quickly knocked out, and Virgil skilfully stabbed the remaining foe in the stomach. As they fell to their knees, he spun around, making his way back to the three sides who looked at him with a mix of awe and shock. None of them knew he had this side to him.

As he walked back, Virgil might have ‘accidentally’ stood on some hands, but no one mentioned that.

“Well,” he said as he came back, his Protective Mode already wearing off, “time to go back?”

Roman nodded, speechless, but didn’t move.

“Virgil,” he stumbled, “that was-”

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” Virgil interrupted. “A shock, I get it. Let’s go back first, then you can talk about it, okay?”

The prince nodded and put a hand on the doorknob. The other two sides turned around, just as stunned as the creative trait was. But just as the sides averted their attention, one of the opponents got up. Their leg was heavily injured, but they still stood. Patton was already out of the dreamscape as they fired an arrow, that hit Virgil’s shoulder.

Virgil looked up at the sudden wave of pain and stared at his shoulder.

“Motherfucker,” he cursed softly as Protective Mode seeped back. The awareness of pain slipped away as the protective side took over and he gripped the sword tighter. He was glad he hadn’t given the sword back yet.

“Virgil, are you-” Roman cut himself off as he saw the arrow sticking out of Virgil’s shoulders.

“I’ll be fine,” the protective side reassured the other, “just gotta kick some fucking ass.”

Roman tried to protest, telling Virgil that he could come back to the mindscape and they would take care of it later, but the other side had already turned around. And on top of that, an arrow had already found its way to his abdomen.

Virgil gasped as the arrow hit, but when Roman tried to rush closer, he dismissed the other. He dropped the sword, and he could feel Protective Mode wearing off already. He didn’t have the energy anymore.

Another arrow. In the chest. It hadn’t quite hit his heart, but it was good enough to kill him quickly. Virgil coughed as the blood filled up the lung the arrow had pierced. All he could think of, was how he was going to die. He was dying and no one could stop it. Oh God, he was dying.

But at least the others were safe, right? They were safe in the mindscape, weren’t they? If they were safe… at least he would have succeeded at his job. At least he wouldn’t have failed.

Then, Virgil became aware of someone tugging at his arm. And someone else grabbed his other arm. His vision faded as he got to his feet – but he wasn’t the one doing it, what was happening? Who was helping him up? He didn’t want to go back, he wanted to die here. At least that would mean he had succeeded.

The anxious trait gasped as he became aware of warmth caressing him. A door closed behind him. They were in the mindscape. But who was ‘they’? Where the three others there, were they all safe?

“Can you do anything?” a sobbing voice asked. Virgil didn’t know who said it. Was it Patton? Roman? It couldn’t have been Logan.

“Are you… are you safe?” Virgil croaked. He hated how weak his voice sounded. “All of you?”

“Yeah, my Boromir,” the same voice responded, as he carefully grabbed one of Virgil’s hands. “All three of us are here.”

“Good,” the side mumbled weakly. “I- I’ve al- always aimed to-to protect you. Good that I… I didn’t f-fail, huh?”

Then, he closed his eyes.

And he drew his last breath.

**Author's Note:**

> The post that inspired it all:   
> http://randomslasher.tumblr.com/post/171022193326/whether-tis-nobler-in-the-mind-to-suffer-the


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